Look at my dog. He’s content and “innocent” (don’t let him fool you, he gets into mischief at times). Yet he never looks worried or upset. Mostly, he just is as he is. And he gets along with everyone. I’m convinced dogs hold the key to real happiness. They’re happy just being alive; happy simply sitting or lying next to a boring human as I sometimes happen to be. That’s unconditional love. They enjoy things as they come, things that seem meaningless and mundane to us humans—like chasing birds or their tails...repeatedly. Or in the case of my dog, he’s happy as a lark popping out his tongue to lick anything and everything, like a little PEZ dispenser.
I’m also convinced they understand the real meaning of life. Just watch them. They’re happy in the moment all the time, it
seems. They don’t angrily argue about
matters of opinion, ideology, religion or lifestyle or throw invectives or call
others “stupid.” They don’t war with one
another or with other species. They don’t
spew tons of garbage into the air and water or ravage the earth and call it “progress.” They don’t hoard material stuff and they aren’t
greedy. And they’re always forgiving, no
matter who or what mistreats them.
My dogs--Benji and Sam before him—are great examples of happy
living. They were happy with simplicity,
even with things done repeatedly that would bore the bejesus out of a typical
human. They could care less about
trends, fads, social media, politics and the myriad other crap (besides dog
poop which always intrigued them) that unnecessarily occupies human life all too
often. They did not dwell on events in
the past and did not worry about an uncertain future.
And like most dogs, they’re always eager to shower anyone with
unconditional love.
They’re happy just being alive, happy simply being next to a boring human as I sometimes happen to be. That’s unconditional love. We can learn much from the behavior of dogs.
©Randall
S. Fong, M.D.
For more topics on
medicine, health and the weirdness of life in general, check out the rest of
the blog site at randallfong.blogspot.com
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